Budapest bomber caught

Hungarian authorities have arrested the prime suspect they believe responsible for the Budapest bombing, it has been revealed today.

According to several reports, a young man was detained by TEK squads yesterday afternoon on suspicion of carrying out a bomb attack in central Budapest on September 24th.

During a news conference held by the heads of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, the Hungarian Police and the Counter-Terrorism Center on Thursday morning, authorities confirmed that he is the only suspect in the investigations.

Following news of the arrest, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said "we are proud of our policemen, and thank them for the work they’ve carried out. They have proved that Hungary is a safe place, where crimes cannot go unpunished".

Chief prosecutor Tibor Keresztes said that the man is Hungarian but not from the Budapest. He was arrested by anti-terrorist (TEK) squads in the town of Keszthely at 4:09 pm on Wednesday and was detained on suspicion of the attempted murder of several people and of abuse of explosives.

Keresztes said the man, who has no previous criminal record, has not yet made a confession.

Hungarian police chief Károly Papp said the condition of the 23-year-old female policewoman and her 26-year-old male colleague injured in the blast is improving, hopefully they can return to work in a few months.

Police received more than 1,000 calls from the public in connection with the bomb attack, however, the 10 million HUF reward will not be paid to anyone as the suspect was caught as a result of “classic police investigation.”

TEK chief János Hajdu said they have released a video of the arrest, which can be watched here.